Category: The Miss – Episodes

Patrick collected Elizabeth from the waiting room, opened the door to the clinic room and beckoned for her to take a seat. “Thank you for coming Mrs Valtrey.” She was thinner and appeared to have aged five years, though only three months had passed since the chemo started. But she was doing well, nevertheless. Patrick... Continue Reading →

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Dr Ellliot had much time to think, to rationalise, to excuplate, to self-criticise. Face it - her cancer wouldn’t be incurable if I had arranged an earlier colonoscopy. That’s the basic fact. If I had looked up the blood test I would have seen the result, and I would have requested the colonoscopy. I can’t... Continue Reading →

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“What do you think I should do?” asked Patrick, of his partner Daisy (who was not a doctor). He had told her everything. “Oh Patrick, this has really got to you, hasn’t it? Is this why you’ve been moody recently." “I guess so, yes. I’ve kept it to myself, apart from telling Monica in the... Continue Reading →

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Elizabeth developed a good relationship with her clinical nurse specialist, Ademola Oni, a male nurse who had trained in Nigeria. She called him after the second round of chemotherapy, to ask, out of interest, how long she had been anaemic. Ademola was organising an iron infusion for her, because the anaemia had become more profound.... Continue Reading →

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“I wish I’d been there with you love,” said Mr Valtrey, when his wife returned from the oncology clinic. He rarely left the house, due to Parkinson’s disease. But Elizabeth, who largely cared for him, was strong enough. They spoke about the coming weeks and months. The oncologist was actually quite positive about the chance... Continue Reading →

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A new experiment for this blog. In 7 short daily episodes follow the thoughts and feelings of Dr Patrick Elliot and his patient Elizabeth Valtrey. Patrick has made a mistake; Elizabeth’s bowel cancer went undetected, despite an obvious clue, and is now inoperable. The scenario is entirely fictional, but it allows an exploration of the... Continue Reading →